Nellie Bly

History of Asylums

Mari Andrzejewski & Veronika Kremens Present:Nellie Bly

Around the World in 72 Days

Within the walls of an asylum, there were horrible conditions.-People we treated brutally.~Ice cold baths were given to patients for extended periods of time.~Patients would be roped together by leather belts and were told to not move or they would be beaten.-Staff gave the helpless patients unedible food.~The portions of food were very small.~Given food was infested with insects.The conditions were unsanitary and unhealthy.

After her many undercover reportings, Bly decided to do something daring and adventurous. She decided to travel around the world in a record-breaking amount of time. Bly charted her daily progress. At the end, she traveled the globe in a time of 72 days, breaking the record of 80 days. After she returned, she was welcomed to New York City and had a parade down Broadway Street. She became an overnight celebrity.

BreifBiography

-Elizabeth Cochran Seaman is known as Nellie Bly from a Stephan Foster song-Bly was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochran Mills, Pennsylvania.-She grew up as one of 13 children.- Her father passed away in 1869, and her mother later re-married her second husband, who was abusive to the kids.-Bly attended Indiana State Normal School. She dropped out one year later due to financial problems in her family.-After writing an agressive letter to Pittsburgh Dispatch, she was interviewed and hired for a job as a news reporter. -Interested in another reporting job, she was hired for reporter in the New York World newspaper.-Bly passed away at 56 years old on January 27, 1922, in New York from pneumonia.

Trip to Mexico?

As Nellie Bly wrote about the negative conditions she experienced in the nation, corperate advisers threatened to discontinue business with Pittsburgh Dispatch if they condinued posting the entries. So, she was assigned to go to Mexico instead. As she wrote about the homeless and poor working masses, the Mexican Government decided to kick Nellie Bly out of the country.